Last night, as i was 4 8 15 16 23 42'ing (watching the only television program i actually watch on an actual tv set) there were shots fired about a block away. i heard either 6 or 7 shots, couldn't count. My roommate and i looked at each other. "that was a gunshot, right?" Right.

LOST cut to commercial as if it knew, and we heard the sound of a car pulling off, barely screeching but hauling ass. 3 minutes later: the cops arrived, i lost track of the tv show, we turned off our lights and peered out the windows to watch for what would happen next. Men yelling, a woman screamed, police sirens and lights, and yellow tape around the convenient store on the corner.

Pause. go back in time. 20 minutes before the tv programme began, i went to the convenient store to use the ATM. I bought a red lighter, walked home.

Pause. Back to the crime scene.

We watched as police interviewed men and women, one man collapsed in tears, another woman fell to her knees and two men tried to pick her up. There were the sounds of humans in pain, sadness, tears and shock echoing down the street. My roommates and i started speculating.

"maybe the convenient store clerk was shot""the one who just sold me a lighter? the nice middle eastern guy who has pictures of his daughter all over the place?""yeah"

I've been scouring the interwebs for information on a crime in the mission last night at a convenient store and have yet to find any piece of information. (if any missionites have any good links to local crime stories let me know)what i do know is that Someone died on my block last night at the convenient store. one minute they were alive. Shots fired. then they were not. and instantly, my concerns and any problems, all in perspective. And i have risen on May 3, 2007 with new responsibility to embrace the day and days ahead. dumb luck.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

A wallflower, Punch talks to JudyIn a crowded corner where anybody can listen inBut they don't read page to page or speak easyNow they're going to go say the wordsIn the wrong order againThey walk in a circleThrough all the sidewalk scenesThey used to be a part of one timeNow everybody just stares and whispersDriving around up and down Division Street"I used to like it hereIt just bums me out to rememberCan't you ever treat anyone nice?I think I'm going to make the same mistake twice"They draw the curtainWait for a callPretty lucky if they get any kind of response at all"Can't you ever treat anyone nice?I think I'm going to make the same mistake twiceI'm going to make the same mistake twice"

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

I love you sons of bitches. You’re all I read any more. You're the only ones who’ll talk all about the really terrific changes going on, the only ones crazy enough to know that life is a space voyage, and not a short one, either, but one that’ll last for billions of years. You’re the only ones with guts enough to really care about the future, who really notice what machines do to us, what wars do to us, what cities do to us, what big, simple ideas do to us, what tremendous misunderstanding, mistakes, accidents, catastrophes do to us. You're the only ones zany enough to agonize over time and distance without limit, over mysteries that will never die, over the fact that we are right now determining whether the space voyage for the next billion years or so is going to be Heaven or Hell.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Matthew Wayne Selznick asked for the podcast in raw mp3 form so he could listen on any player, and that's what Matthew Wayne Selznick gets. So this is the first SxSW review - a simple little mix tape for you. In this wrap, i reveal my favorite show at SxSW and i even play a little un-safe music..I'll publish it tonight when i get home from work, it'll be purty and enhanced with awesome pictures and magnificent shownotes for clickable pleasures. but for a sneak peak..

"On March 22, 2007, a bunch of podcasters are aiming to game the charts in the iTunes Music Store for at least a day by asking everyone involved in podcasting to buy just one song, a specific song, Mine Again by Black Lab, that day. The effort, called Bum Rush the Charts, is designed to demonstrate to old media that podcasting has reach and more importantly, purchasing power."